couple videos for your enjoyment

Date: Thu, Aug 21, 2008

My friend, Higgins - yes I hang out with a kid name Higgins - posted this in our FFL forum. It's titled Goat Screaming Like a Man. Hilarious.

He also posted this video which is pretty damn good as well. It's John Tesh rocking out the roundball rock. If you're a NBA fan, you have to check it out.

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down with plo

Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008

We had a video meeting yesterday discussing some upcoming video series. There are some really cool ssplo and msplo things in the works, so I'm going to hold off on my moving up series for the time being. Things have gotten pretty hectic with CR stuff and I'm just not feeling PLO atm. It'll be better to take a break.

One of the main things that got me off PLO was MasterLJ coming into the office last week. I've been so down on NLHE for so long, but sitting down and talking strategy with an excellent player like him gave me the itch back. The only difference is that I don't have much desire to play HU. HU is a lot about game selection. I've always been terrible about game selection and that's one of the reasons I gravitated to PLO recently (most of the games are pretty damn good). Luckily, most of the FR nlhe games tend to be pretty damn good as well.

The plan is to grind out some solid money at FRnlhe. I need to get some solid wins under my belt after my disgusting downswing with PLO. I think it will help my peace of mind and game. So far, I've been doing well in 2/4 FR nlhe and I'm up 7 buyins over 4k hands.

I got a chance to hear a bunch of the tracks on the new The Game album. I think it's a classic The Game album with some great tracks. I shared My Life a few weeks back. I still love that song. I'm hard pressed to think of a verse in recent music as good as the first verse in that song. This song is tight as hell too. It loses some in the edit, but you get the idea. If you like rap, definitely get this album when it comes out next week.

People seemed to get pretty defensive of Barack in my last post. Maybe I'm just around it more because of the type of people I hang out with (young people who don't know shit about politics), but I just encounter tons of people who are voting for Barack for no particular reason. I think Barack is very impressive both as a person and when you look at what he's accomplished in such a short period (makes me think of Tommy Carcetti with his plans to hop from Mayor to the Governor to Pres haha).

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lfisgd

Date: Wed, Aug 13, 2008

Alright guys, I'm gonna do it. I'll start at .25/.50plo and go from there. How many hands do you think I should play at each limit if I'm doing well off the bat?

Weekend was great. Weather kind of sucked, but I just needed to get away from the city for a few days. The internet didn't work up there which was a blessing in disguise. I missed most of the shitfest that was the menlo/lee video (was fun reading up on that today by the way). I also just got to unplug. I played some golf, did some fishing and just hung out with my family. I went 0/3 in risk games, which sucked, but I realized there is a lot more luck in that game than i remember.

I recently purchashed the worlds largest grinder by accident. I ordered one from a website. They called me later in the day and asked if it would be okay if they upgraded me to a larger one because they were out of the one I ordered. I said, sweet, do it. That was a mistake. See below. I included some normal items to show its scale. I'm working on exchanging it now.

I saw this ridiculous youtube clip on the CR off topic today. I thought it was worth sharing.I think it really showcases whats wrong with many of Barack supporters. I'm historically a republican, but very well may vote for Barack, so don't think I'm blindly bashing Barack or his supporters. It really does piss me off though that people want to vote for him for vague reasons like he is "hip" or "I feel like he'll bring change." If you feel that way, you should know why he will bring change.

I was pretty busy today and didn't have time to play. I'll start grinding some 50plo tomorrow and give an update.

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some other things

Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2008

I don't know when I'll blog next because I won't be on the computer much this weekend. I hate leaving with such a negative blog up. I wanted to touch on some regular life stuff.

I've been watching a few HBO shows lately. I really like Generation Kill. It's a new miniseries on Iraq. The interesting thing about it is that I feel like it shows a pretty realistic view of what it's like over there. It's scary stuff. It's very interesting though. The dialouge is very good as well. The other show I'm watching is a few years old, but still excellent. It's called Rome. It's pretty simple to understand what it's about. I'd highly recommend either one.

New Nas CD is very good, obv. It's interesting, I used to find myself very turned off to forms of entertianment (CDs, movie, whatever) that took a very political stance. I'm very different now. I'm not sure what is about me that changed, but I just became okay with it. I think part of it might be the fact that I'm just skeptical overall of both political parties. I was raised in a diehard right wing household. As I've gotten older, I've just realized that both sides suck and while I lean to the right, I'm definitely left on some issues. As I've said before, I smoke pot on a regular basis, gamble for a living and I'm a Christian. That can lead to some confusion. Anyway, the new Nas CD really bashes the right wing at times, but I'm okay with that.

On a poltical side note, we're working on creating a non bias video that will show each candidates stances on a number of key issues. Hopefully it will encourage people to get out and vote. I have the priveledge of living in IL where I know my vote won't count because we will go blue no matter what (especially with Obama running), but I'm still going to vote.

I've officially given up on the Tigers. I was at their 14th inning loss to the Sox on Tuesday. It was one of the most frustrating baseball games I've ever watched. Every relief pitcher on their team sucks. You just know that they are going to give up hits/runs when they come into the game. It's a sick feeling. I never once felt comfortable that they would win that game and I believe they were up 6-1. They lost last night. I'll be there tonight to likely see their asses kept swept. Pathetic. Hopefully they can make some moves for some pitchers in the offseason.

I took my gf out to get sushi last night. She had claimed she didn't like sushi, but I wasn't really sure if she had ever had it. I figured I'd force it on her and hope for the best. We went to Japonais, which is one of my favorite sushi places. It didn't work. She didn't like it. She was a champ and tried a bunch of different things though. There was one roll that I thought was going to make her throw up. That would have sucked! The upside was that I got to eat a lot of good sushi. We also went to see Pineapple Express after dinner. She did not like that either. She thought it was only funny for stoners. Maybe so. I couldn't say. Overall, I thought it was funny and worth seeing, but it was easily the worst movie from those guys and just drawn out at times. Bottom line, pretty good night for me and a pretty bad one for her. What can ya do?

I hope people don't think I'm a whinny bitch. I'm only a whinny bitch when I talk about poker. Otherwise, life is fucking good and I can't complain one bit.

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changes

Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2008

This challenge is going to have to continue somewhere below 2/4. I haven't had a single winning session in a week. I'm getting absolutely crushed.

Hands: 21,039

Profit: -15,483.95

Days remaining: 37

I couldn't be more frustrated/dissapointed.

I'm thinking about going down to like .25/.50. The upside to doing that is that I can grind out a lot of hands there and possibly make a moving up series for PLO. I think that would be good for the site and it could be interesting if I could actually move up and document it.

I don't know. I'm lost. At least I'm on pace with the hands.

Good news is that I'm heading to my cabin tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited to get up there. I'm really looking forward to playing some golf and doing some fishing. I also haven't spent as much time as I'd like with my family lately.

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busto part 22

Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008

let's talk good things first.

I've been very busy. The tail end of last week we had Lee and Townsend in town to have some meetings. Obviously, CR has taken some shit lately and we don't like that. We've been working on a lot of stuff over the last month or two. These meetings were good because we were able to see how it is all coming together. We've got some big changes coming soon and I'm really excited about them. These changes will directly influence the type and quality of content you will be getting, so don't feel like we're building up nothing.

I saw Radiohead at Lollapalooza on Friday. They are one of my favorite bands in general and def one of my favorites to see live. They didn't dissapoint. IMO, they are one of the few must see bands out there.

I saw Barcelona play one of the Mexican Chivas teams at Soldier Field on Sunday. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I do really enjoy seeing them in person. Soccer fans get so into the game, you can't help but have a good time. You also get to see some sick goals. I think the final score was 5-2 so there was no lack of action. Barcelona won.

Poker has been absolutely miserable. I felt so good early last week. I was almost back in the positive. Things just went to aboslute shit after that. I don't think I've had one winning session since then and my best session is probably the one I put in today at -1k. Sweet. I downloaded pokerev to see how much of it was truly running bad and how much was feeling bad for myself. I'm not really sure how this works, so any help analysing my graph would be great.

Hands: 20,298

Profit: -11,677.60

Days remaining: 39

I think I'm running about 4-5k under expectation. I'm not sure what the whole skalansky chart means (total winnigs vs skalansky and expected). I'm told it has something to do with the amoutn I win at showdown. Do I just suck in the small pots?

I'm going to my cabin in Michigan this weekend. I think I'm going to unplug for a few days. In other words, stay offline, don't use my cell phone, etc. I could use sometime in the woods away from the cyber world. I think it can only be good. I plan on golfing, fishing and just spending time with my family. I'll also try to get some reading in. I couldn't think of a better place to go to let out all of this frustration I've been having.

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moving on up to the eastside

Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2008

Hands: 15,625

Profit: -3,518.25

Days remaining: 46

Ok, now I'm finally starting to get on a nice roll. I played a really short session today and picked up 5 buyins. Last night I played for another short session and won around 1k. Things are looking up. Both of these sessions were HU. I think my HU game is really coming along (although, my hu game was always better than my 6max). The main thing I needed to work on with my HU game was control. When I say control, I mean both control of myself and of the match. In the past I would play so aggressive that I would sometimes tilt myself. It sounds crazy, but it's true. I would convince myself to make calls I shouldn't with the thought process of "i'm playing so loose, he should be tilted, he's probably bluffing." That's not good when you're playing vs a good player. I always struggled against better players. I feel like I'm playing much better vs them lately. I'm controling my game much better and picking my spots much better.

Cooler. I like the way he played the hand with the check though. I feel like I'm just betting and then pushing to a raise most of the time. This is a good reminder that you gotta mix it up some.

I played against a guy who ran $100 up to $900 by winning hands like this.

It all came crashing down for him with these two hands that occured within 3 hands of each other. Hand 1. Hand 2. yikes.

Is this a spot where I should typically be stacking in a 3 bet pot? There is a made straight on the board already and I have a pair in my hand. I'd feel a lot better if I had a random 4th card instead of the pair of 5s.

In my database, I'm down a ton with two pair. I don't think I should be stacking in spots like this. I do have the gutter, which helps things, but there is the flush draw out there. I feel like this is a best case scenario and we're tied.

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grinding

Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2008

I seem to be finding a rhythm with HU play, but the 6max play just isn't there yet. I've been grinding out some solid money HU only to give it back when I jump into the 6max games. Even still, I've made a little progress and I'm not stuck as much as I once was.

Hands: 14,533

Profit: -6,309.80

Days remaining: 47

And I wonder why I'm losing at 6max.

I was pretty lost here. I think betting here is bad. I think I should probably check call. Once I bet and small stack shoves, I don't know if I should call or not, but once I call that, I think I have to call the other shove. Any help here is appreciated. At least I got lucky.

I def butchered this one.

Should I just be folding the flop here? I had the guy pegged as a weak player so I thought two pair, lower set were in his range. I figured he made a smaller boat on the river when he bet out. Does anyone not raise there? Pretty sick hand in the end. Def hurt my momentum today.

I immediately regreted raising the flop here. I'd much rather seen a turn for cheap and make sure it comes down ok. It just seems like a bad board to stack on the flop with when I didn't have any redraws. I was right. I was well behind with the nuts.

I'm ahead of my pace on hands played. That's important though because I have a busy few weeks coming up where I won't be able to play as much.

The important thing is that I am making progress. Props to Stinger for his really solid 3 part PLO series. I just got done watching that.

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ah the swings

Date: Fri, Jul 25, 2008

I won 10 buyins after dinner last night. Today I dropped 5. I just need to come to grips with the swings. More updates to come.

In the meantime, check out this song. It's badass.

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rollover2k

Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2008

I just finished watching today's video by Rollover. It's a solid video. I suggest you check it out if you're a PLO player. I'm looking forward to part 2. One hand I found interesting was his discussion of AKsJ10 and how poorly it plays against a typical 3 bet range. It makes sense if you think about it, but I would always play that hand pretty strongly. I'm going to reconsider that. I also think I'm going to adjust my PAHud to include his bottom line of stats (they have to do with c-bets).

I'm feeling better. Earlier I was pretty pissed off. I just need to work through these leaks. PLO is a swingy game and while 20 buyins seems pretty bad, it's not that terrible in the scheme of things. Some of it is due to bad play and some is due to running poorly. What's important is that I do what is necessary to improve my game and play through it.

Part of this challege was to adhere to bankroll standards. I started the month with a 20k bankroll. I think thats a bit on the small side for 2/4, but I didn't expect to hit such a big downer at the start. I think I will consider moving down to 1/2 if I have another bad session or two. Thoughts on bankroll for PLO?

I'm writing this on the bus on my ride home. I just got to my stop. Going go hit the gym up and take out some of my PLO frustrations.

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disaster

Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2008

I've dropped about 16 buyins in the last two days playing hu. brutal.

Hands: 7,465

Profit: -8,396.40

Days remaining: 51

this is not what i expected. if i keep losing at this rate, i'll be completely broke in about 2 weeks.

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up and down

Date: Tue, Jul 22, 2008

Hands: 5,890

Profit: -1,861

Days remaining: 53

So that's where I stand right now. I was stuck as much as $6k at my low, so I'm not going to complain too much. I'm not a great 6 max player. My PLO strength has always come playing HU and even there my style didn't work much above 2/4. One of the things that stands out to me about my numbers is my very high flop AF. I don't know if that's bad or not. I also feel like I'm playing too tight. My last few sessions, I've played at like 20/16. That seems way too nitty for my liking. I figure it's not terrible though since I'm working through leaks. It's better to err on the side of being too tight.

At first I thought my opponent played this hand terribly. Looking back on the HH, it's not too bad. He had a decent hand to call with preflop considering we were both deep. That's a flop that's worth going with. Although, he's lucky I didn't have his flush draw covered. I think you need to be very careful in spots like that because you can be in ok shape like he is or you could be crushed.

This hand is fairly straight forward, but I wasn't really too sure of what to do on the flop. After reviewing it, I'm convinced it's a fold. It's a pretty standard call preflop, but you gotta give it up on that flop. oops.

I think this was dumb luck in a way. I wanted to throw up when he shoved the river. The guy was a crazy player and I knew he was capable of bluffing or showing something like top two. I basically just crossed my fingers and hoped that was what he was doing. I guess I'm not sure what's standard there. I think I have to bet the river. Shoud I typically fold when he pushes?

I really feel like I'm gonna push through soon and start posting big wins. Let's hope that's true.

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quick update

Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2008

I don't have time to write up a big entry, but I figured I'd give you a quick update. Also, I want to thank everyone that took the time to post their thoughts on hands in the last entry. I really appreciate it. There was some good advice there.

Hands: 1,509

Profit: -3795.25

Days remaining: 58

oops. I'm not running well. I also misplayed a few hands. I'll make a bigger post tomorrow. I also expect to get in a good amount of hands tomorrow and over the weekend.

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Stop loss

Date: Wed, Jul 16, 2008

Something that I've always struggled with that is even more important with PLO than NLHE is playing your A game at all times. You can leak a lot of money in PLO when you are playing your B or C game. You can always convince yourself to make a play or go with a draw when you shouldn't be. It's not good. I often dig big holes when things aren't going right. I often will drop 10+ buyins in a session of PLO. Now with PLO, that isn't unheard of. The thing is that I can probably easily avoid dropping at least a few of those buyins. I get tilty and just start playing my B or C game.

Last night was one of those nights where things just weren't going right. I don't think I was every playing that well throughout the session. I made a few mistakes and my table image wasn't good. PLO relies a lot on having fold equity when you push draws. If you have that tilty image, you basically have to around and wait for the nuts because you aren't going to have much fold equity when you push those draws. I was happy with myself that I called it quits only down 2.5 buyins.

One thing I really need to work on is being less spewy in 4 bet pots. I don't really ever fold to 4 bets when I have position. When I have hands that are somewhat dominated by AAxx, I need to be folding. Here is an example of a hand I played really poorly and got it in very bad with. Gotta fold that preflop.

I was pretty sure that this was a push due to the fold equity. I was a bit surprised to learn I was a favorite over his hand. I thought the fact that I had a pair in my hand and 3 of my suit for the flush draw would make me a dog. Although, if I was vs. AA, I would have been a dog I think. Something I need to work on is giving less value to hands with pairs in them, because it really hurts your equity when you are trying to jam in a spot like this and don't have the set.

I think I played this hand standard. I need to talk to stinger or someone about spots like this. My hand seems too strong to fold and pushing is no good because I'm 35% vs AAxx. Nice flop.

I'd appreciate any input you guys have on hands I play. Please don't come on here and bash my play. I'd appreciate constructive comments. I'm admitting now that I have a lot of leaks and I need to iron them out. I'll probably often post hands that I felt I misplayed.

Hands: 473

Profit: -1090

Days remaining: 59

I'm going to play some golf with my dad in a few minutes. I haven't played one round this entire summer, which is depressing. I used to play so much golf. I'm going to try to get a session in later tonight, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have. My plan is to try to get in small sessions here and there and then at least once a week just pound out a huge session of 3-5k hands, especially if I'm putting a good session together.

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